Even though I’d already ordered from Nordstrom at the start of June (dis), I placed another order at the end of June, mainly because I wanted a secondHair Care Sample Pack (dis) which happened to still be available (at the time). After this order though, I think I’m gonna’ cool it with Nordstrom (for a bit). It’s just too hot to be ordering stuff online.

Anyways, I got something from Alterna and two more somethings from Bumble and Bumble. Other than the Hair Care Sample Pack there was an Alterna Gift With Purchase and Bumble and Bumble Gift With Purchase which included deluxe samples from each brand! Yaaay!

I also got some more Bar Soaps and Candles to qualify for the Fragrance Sample Pack (dis). I was actually interested in purchasing Mojave Ghost from Byredo and Philosykos from Diptyque as Perfumes, but it was way too hot to risk (the heat might alter the contents and therefore the scent). So, I got them as Bar Soapsinstead. Plus, this way, I could “test” the scents first, rather than buying them as Perfumes and possibly ending up hating them.

The Makeup stuff was from Benefit and I only got them because I really, really had my heart set on the Benefit Gift With Purchase that came with a very, very cuteBenefit Clear Tote Bag and some samples. Also, it helped bump up the total of my order so I could qualify for the latest Sample Pack (dis).

Get a Free Gift when you spend $85 on Women’s Fragrance. Discover your next favorite scent with samples from Diptyque and Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent and more.

Towards the end of June, Nordstrom came out with x2 more Sample Packs. One, was a mix of Makeup and Skincare (dis), which wasn’t particularly exciting. The other, was this Fragrance Sample Pack, which was very enticing!

For starters, it came with a sample of Mugler Angel Eau Croisière which I was dying to sniff! The pack also included several flankers of well-loved gourmands, Prada Candy and CH Good Girl and V&R Flowerbomb and YSL Black Opium and YSL Mon Paris! I was pretty excited about the samples from Atelier Cologne and Diptyque and Replica and my belovedKilian as well! Also, most of these were new-new!

In hindsight though, I totally should’ve skipped the Fragrance Sample Pack (June) because it was mostly either floral-y florals (yuck) or overly sharp and citrus-y scents (namely Peach, ugh).

Get a Free Gift with Your $100 Beauty or Fragrance Purchase. Plus, when you spend $150 on beauty or fragrance, you’ll also receive a Bonus Gift.

I wasn’t planning on placing yet another online order with Nordstrom during Ramadan, especially since I was somewhat broke (those Ramadan Kaftans cost a pretty penny). However, there was a deal (more on that in the next post) and I got suckered into placing a “smaller” order lol Since my order was a little over $100, I qualified for the May Sample Pack.

The Makeup-y Samples included something from Fresh (lucky) while the Fragrance Samples included Alien by Mugler (super lucky) and the Hair Care Samples included stuff from AvedaandLiving Proof (super super lucky)!

I’ll be going over all the samples that arrived in the May Sample Pack, below…

Cosmic explosions collide with magnetic attraction, to create an irresistible Eau de Parfum never experienced before.

Surrender now to Angel Muse, the new addictive fragrance that you will #HateToLove…

What in the actual…

I don’t hate to love. I just hate the commercial for Angel Muse lol

Angel Muse is the first gourmand vetiver for women. A noble woody fragrance, an incisive and uniquely MUGLER gourmand.

I’ve actually been meaning to purchase this baby for a minute now. In fact, I stopped by Harvey Nichols where it was being sold for KD 40+ and was this close to buying it. However, when I asked the sales assistant if there was a Gift with Purchase he said no, and when I asked for Samples he said he didn’t have any (for that price, you better be giving me something), and yet somehow, he was still trying to get me to purchase even more things from the Mugler counter. So, I bounced.

Several months later, during the Perfume & Makeup Exhibition, I stopped by the Mugler booth to give Aura a sniff, when the sales assistant informed me that the 30mL of Angel Muse was now reduced to only KD 10! It was such a good deal, that I bought the last two! They didn’t have their own cash register (had to to go to a nearby counter) but the sales assistant was nice enough to stash several samples of Aura (which I’ve been meaning to try out) in my shopping bag and instructed the guy at the cash register to give me even more fragrance samples as well! Score!

Mon Guerlain, the House’s new fragrance, is a tribute to today’s femininity – a strong, free and sensual femininity, as inspired by Angelina Jolie.

Honestly, I happened to watch several “Perfume Junkies” on YouTube rave and rave about Mon Guerlain and began lusting after it. I’ve only ever sniffed the Eau de Toilette when I’d received several samples of it from Sephora earlier (here), but had yet to sniff the Eau de Parfum. That said, surely all those people couldn’t be wrong…

So, during the Perfume & Makeup Exhibition at Mishref Fair Grounds, I hit up the Guerlain booth and purchased the Eau de Parfum. It was a total blind-buy because I didn’t even bother giving it a sniff beforehand. In addition to the nice little discount, I received a cute little Guerlain Pink Pouch as a Gift with Purchase and several other Guerlain Fragrance Samples from the Absolus d’Orient Collection which was pretty sweet (even more fragrances to play around with)!

While browsing through the New Arrivals section up on Nordstrom, I spotted an exciting new version of my belovedLight Blue called Light Blue Sun. It listed Coconut Water (which I adore in most forms) in the fragrance notes! I mean…c’mon, Light Blue + Coconut Water just sounded awesome! So, despite my luck (or lack-thereof) with purchasing perfumes before actually smelling them, this was yet another blind-buy lol Since I was going to have to pay extortionate shipping fees regardless, I figured I might as well purchase a few more items, to even out the shipping cost (I mathed).

I picked up something from the Too Faced collab with Erika Jayne and to qualify for the Too Faced Gift with Purchase also purchased a Too Faced Mascara (travel size). Lastly, since I’d actually sampled Mon Paris earlier (here) and over time, grew to enjoy the scent, I sprung for the YSL Mon Paris Eau de Parfum Set (3oz/90mL + 1oz/30mL).

Since the total for everything was more than $100 I ended up qualifying for both the April Skincare Sample Pack (here) and April Fragrance Sample Pack (here) and the April Bonus Gift (here) and got to pick out 3 samples for free.